postgres-markdown

library1.3.6jsnpmunverified

A CLI tool (1.3.6) that generates Slate-compatible Markdown documentation from a PostgreSQL database schema. It connects to a Postgres instance, inspects tables, columns, types, constraints, and comments, and produces a single Markdown file suitable for tools like Shins or Slate. Offers options for host, port, database, output file, locale, and object ignore patterns. Differentiated by its direct extraction from live database metadata and support for inherited tables and custom types.

database devops

npm install postgres-markdown

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · POSTGRES-MARKDOWN

postgres-markdown

databasejavascriptv1.3.6

harness data pending

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

No compatibility data collected yet for this library.

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

default

✓ import postgresMarkdown from 'postgres-markdown'

✗ const postgresMarkdown = require('postgres-markdown')

ESM-only since v1.3.0; default export is a function.

exec

✓ import { exec } from 'child_process'

✗ const exec = require('child_process').exec

Use exec() to run the CLI programmatically.

types

✓ import type { DatabaseConfig } from 'postgres-markdown'

TypeScript types available, not exported in older versions.

This shows how to programmatically run postgres-markdown as a CLI from Node.js, passing database credentials via environment variables.

import { exec } from 'child_process'; const outputPath = './docs.md'; const command = `postgres-markdown -H localhost -p 5432 -u postgres -W ${process.env.PGPASSWORD ?? ''} -d mydb -o ${outputPath}`; exec(command, (error, stdout, stderr) => { if (error) { console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`); return; } if (stderr) { console.error(`stderr: ${stderr}`); } console.log(`Documentation generated at ${outputPath}`); });

Debug

Known issues

gotchaPassword is passed as a command-line argument, which may be visible in process lists on Unix systems.

fix

Use environment variable PGPASSWORD and pass via -W with value from process.env; consider using pgpass file instead.

affects: >=1.0.0

gotchaDefault locale is 'ru', which produces Russian comments in output.

fix

Specify -l en for English locale.

affects: all

deprecatedThe package uses 'commander' v2.x internally, which is outdated.

fix

No immediate fix; input parsing works but may have edge cases with complex arguments.

affects: >=1.0.0

breakingESM-only since v1.3.0; require() will fail.

fix

Use import syntax or dynamic import().

affects: >=1.3.0

gotchaThe tool ignores objects matching pattern in -i using simple substring match, not regex.

fix

Ensure ignore patterns are simple substrings.

affects: all

Errors

Common errors & fixes

Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::5432

Default port 5432 is already in use on localhost.

fix

Specify a different port with -p flag.

Error: CILOOP: too many symbolic links encountered

Unrelated system error, possibly due to circular symlinks in current directory.

fix

Run postgres-markdown from a different directory without symlink loops.

postgres-markdown: command not found

Package not installed globally or not in PATH.

fix

Install with 'npm install -g postgres-markdown' or use npx.

Upgrade

Version history

1.3.6latest on npm

Audit

Dependencies

pgrequiredPostgreSQL client for Node.js

commanderrequiredCLI option parsing

Agent activity

7 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/ilyaplot/postgres-markdown ↗

packagepostgres-markdown ↗

homepagehttps://github.com/ilyaplot/postgres-markdown#readme ↗